When you travel to a place you’ve never been to before, and you failed to ask the right person to tell you how to get there, it would help to travel with a navigator (that from a cellphone or an iPad or an independent device) which would supposedly direct you from your current location to your place of destination; from the “search for satellite” que, through out the “turning points”.

Along the navigation period, you would even be told to prepare to turn left or to turn right prior the distance of 300m, or to stay on a certain lane, or to make a U-turn until the device tells you that you have successfully arrived to your target place.

However, there are unexpected instances when you would fail to obey the “voice prompt” from your navigator because of some misleading or currently-changed road signs. At times, you may have mis-interpreted the direction and you may have advanced or delayed your turns. You kept on driving, but you suddenly thought of confirming if you’re on the right road, so you had to push your hazard light and stop to ask someone where the road is leading, only to find out that you’re already heading the wrong way.

In effect, because you wanted to make sure by then that you’re already heading the right way, you kept on pulling over just to confirm. At such consequence, some people may have been kind enough to advise the right road to take; some would even give you options, but some would be seemingly eager to give you directions which would cause you even more to get lost.

What you did not notice after all is that, your navigator kept on RE-ROUTING each time you make wrong turns. It has been so striving to guide you still and lead you to the right direction until you eventually found out that you no longer need to pull over because it has rerouted correctly and finally prompted that “you have arrived to your target destination.”

In life, there could be some instances when we are not so aware that we are already heading the wrong way. There could have been times when we should have done certain things since there are already signs that it is the right point, but due to some misinterpretations and misunderstandings, we suddenly take wrong turns because of swift mind-shifts. We would at times keep on gathering opinions before making decisions, but instead of getting to the right verdict, we abruptly lead ourselves to complications instead of solutions because we opted to consider wrong suggestions. We have already started making ourselves better, but out of the blue, somebody so influential in our life would comment that what we are doing is “korny” [hehe!] … so instead of pursuing for betterment, we fall back in dragging our feet back to our old-self once more.

What we do not notice after all is that, we have a human navigator who intend to propel our every action to save us from getting lost each time we make wrong turns. More often than not, we would tend to negate the effort of this person whom we push to the limits of sacrificing so much for us. We instead listen to the so-called “hired hand” in today’s gospel who makes us blinded with his “make believe” tactics; but would suddenly abandon us and run away when he sees that we will already suffer the consequence of our indecision because he doesn’t really care at all.

Just like Jesus in the gospel of John 10:11-18, who revealed that “He is the good shepherd who lays down His life for his sheep…”, what will survive of us when our intention to guide is persecuted, is none other but “love” — that which not only “survives” but also rises and bounces again and again while confirming that ALL IS WELL.

Despite the difficult task of being God’s marshal, may this gospel teach us NOT TO GIVE UP; instead, to listen attentively to God’s voice which would make us endure some more and tell our loved-ones:

In today’s Gospel, Jesus is about to leave; not because He gave up on His mission but because it’s already time for His chosen disciples to fulfil The Great Commission which is to spread the “good news” and to invite more disciples and mold them into commitment — in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

It is so touching that the “good news” is that: “God loves us so much!” that He had to send Jesus to guide us and to show us how it is to be human; how it is to struggle for a very difficult mission; how it is to fight over temptation so that we won’t fall into sin and most importantly, how it is TO FORGIVE despite the pain all because of LOVE. Plus, He also sent the Holy Spirit to let us enjoy the different gifts as we go through various experiences in life. The disappointing part is, inalok na tayo ng “3 in 1”, iniiba pa natin ang taste at choice natin!

If we will only realize the depth of this love, it would make us sad that, most people would give a lot of excuses like:
“kaya ba nating patawarin ang taong lagi tayong sinasaktan?”

Every justification that we make compounds us to hatred and makes us difficult to forgive. The hatred blinds us and hinders us from giving back the gratitude that is due to the person who has supported us all the way — just because we do not want to be humble in realizing that along the way, we may also have been wrong.

What makes a rose really beautiful is if it has thorns in each stem – that’s “what love is” and that, I think, is how God wants us to take life & how God wants us to partake as His present disciples: to forgive because we love, and to grow in such love because The Trinity’s good news lives deep within us no matter how much thorns we have to bear! –sunset